I think that Grimlock has the power to attract more casual buyers, much like Impactor has that power over Commotus, Sixshot over Grandus and so on.

The problem with that logic is that most casual buyers who'd be interested in an MP-scale Grimlock already own the official release. They're not going to want another, or to replace something they're probably happy with. Impactor and Sixshot (or, hell, even Shockwave) aren't really accurate comparisons because they don't have existing, well-liked and well-distributed MP figures for the third-party vendors to compete with the way Grimlock does. Even Megatron isn't a great comparison, because MP-05 never got a Western release and I don't think very many people actually like it anyway.

I've got Scoria and Soar, and they are great figures. I'm happy with my MP Grimlock as-is, but I'm willing to reconsider if the FT version wows me sufficiently.

That said, their Perceptor is a big step down for them, I always associate FT with clever and ingenious transformation schemes, so I was a big shocked when I saw that. Microscope mode just looks like a sat-down robot, with no thought gone into it whatsoever. Maybe a different designer? Makes me wonder what their Reflector will be like...

And I'd be surprised if it attracted many casual buyers at all (by which I mean, folks who'll just pick up one or two figures here or there without trying to gather a complete set).

This is me to a T.

I've only got 2 MP figures as it stands because I'm not terribly interested in Wheeljack, Sideswipe, or most that have come out yet. The only one I'm mildly miffed about was the last Optimus that came out and I missed, but I'm sure he'll be back around or I'll find one eventually. I'm not picking up any of the 3P MP Dinobots because I really care about them, but give me a MP Shockwave, Kup, or Warpath and I'll consider it. Even if the 3P MP scale Grimlock is utterly amazeballs chances are I'll give it a pass because my current MP Grimlock is perfectly acceptable in my collection.

Not really any similar to the last render. Much, much better. Given the Reformatted 18 modular number. Seraph [Nova Prime] is 11.

MMC/OX Studio Insections aka third back to back Insecticons release, following badcube and fanstoys. MMC/Ocular Max design to be faithful to studio Ox designs.

More [and finalized] DJD is always great, with the already announced Mirage and the Defensor [Ox style again], I feel MMC might just be treading on very familiar waters. Maybe we'll get even more Dinobots?

See, this is the real problem with the third party stuff. It's not the illegitimate nature or the varying levels of quality control, but the extreme overlap of stuff.

+1

"Oh hey, a 3P Devestator. Not that I plan on picking it up but...oh, another one...and two sets of MP scale Dinobots..."

I'm not opposed to some overlap, but it seems these days like every team is rushing to do the same figures. Fansproject gets some props from me for doing the Headmasters and their own thing once they got established with their off-brand Powermasters. I'd like to see more 3P developers do more unusual or at least things that are different from the rest.

Not too fussed on several groups having a crack at particular characters, personally. They're usually announced without too much of a gap (because they know that people usually won't pick up multiple versions) and the only things that're worth rushing to pre-order are really exciting designs.